Boom in holidays to exotic overseas destinations

AUSTRALIANS are continuing to travel overseas in record numbers on the back of the strong dollar, with exotic destinations Tahiti, Sri Lanka and Chile the fastest-growing.

A record eight million international trips were taken by Australians in the last financial year, up from 7.4 million the year before.

Trips to Spain rose 26 per cent, Thailand rose by 23 per cent and Brazil rose 19 per cent, according to the latest overseas arrivals and departures figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

While Chile would have been boosted by Qantas's new flights to Santiago, Tourism Forecasting Committee chairman Bernard Salt said Australians were embracing holidays at beach resorts overseas.

"You could say Koh Samui and Phuket in Thailand are the next Bali and Fiji,'' he said.

"It's an overnight flight away and there are cheap Jetstar flights to Bangkok.''

Trips to Indonesia and the USA also rose by nine per cent and China rose by seven per cent.

"The Australian dollar has strength so the trip to Disneyland or Hawaii becomes feasible,'' Mr Salt said.

"There's also greater awareness of China as a destination.

"The number of Chinese airlines servicing Australia has increased and the Chinese student population continues to grow and there's a lot more business connections.''

Japan had a five per cent fall in Australian tourists after last year's tsunami while Egypt has struggled to recover from last year's political unrest with a 47 per cent drop.

Trips to Greece, which is facing economic woes, also fell by 5 per cent.

Overall New Zealand was the most popular destination for overseas travel with nearly 1.2 million trips there in the past financial year, followed by Indonesia with nearly 900,000 and the USA with 820,000.

Mr Salt said Australia's history as a small colonial outpost led to a strong culture of world travel.

"We embrace travel when we're sufficiently well off - as we are thanks to the mining boom - and when we have a strong dollar,'' he said.

"Young Australians are very proud of their overseas travel and they can recite trips they have been on like war campaigns.''

The news for Australian tourism was also positive, considering the strong dollar, with a five per cent rise in overseas visitors over the past financial year.

Chinese tourists had the biggest rise, up 17 per cent over the year to more than 580,000 visitors.

It is now the third largest source market, closely behind the UK.

"At this rate, China will take second place in the next few months and will be pressuring New Zealand for top spot in terms of visitor numbers in the next five years,'' Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive John Lee said.

India has also grown by six per cent to become one of the top ten tourist markets, while Japanese visitor numbers are continuing to recover from last year's tsunami.

Despite ongoing economic uncertainty in the US, American tourists rose nearly four per cent.